Spindle drive for a spinning and twisting machine



July 28, 1959 F|NK I 2,896,395

SPINDLE DRIVE FOR A SPINNING AND TWISTING MACHINE Filed Oct. 19, 1955 3Sheets-Sheet 1 &

July 28, 1959 H, PM 2,896,395

SPINDLE DRIVE FOR A SPINNING AND TWISTING MACHINE Filed Oct. 19, 1955flflfl 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 unumy A Z 2? a a inward-0r:

H. FINK July 28, 1959 SPINDLE DRIVE FOR A SPINNING AND TWISTING MACHiNEZI Filed Oct. 19, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 mun!!! INVENTOR M/ze @214 E1 5Sin-2L- SPINDLE DRIVE FORA SPINNING AND TWISTING MACHINE Heinrich Fink,Esslingen-Hegensherg, Germany, assignor to SKF KugellagerfabrikenG.m.b.H., Schweinfurt, Germany Application October 19, 1955, Serial No.541,446 Claims priority, application Germany October 23, 1954 7 Claims.(Cl. 57-402 The present "invention relates to a drive for driving aspindle of a spinning and twisting machine used in the textile industry.

Conventional drives of this type have several drawbacks. There is only avery small space in which such a drive can be located, and since it isdesirable to provide an individual drive for each spindle, the spacerequirement presents a very great problem. Where the spindles arefrictionally driven it has not been possible up to the present time toprovide a suflicient pressure between the frictional drive members, andwhere the drive to the spindles is through gears or through a worm andworm Wheel transmission it is necessary to provide clutches in order tobe able to disengage the drive when the spindle must be stopped in orderto piece together a broken strand. The necessityof such clutches alsorenders this form of drive impractical for the small space in which suchdrives can be located.

One of the objects of the present invention is to overcome the abovedrawbacks by providing a drive for a spindle of the above type in such away that this drive may be located in a very small space and at the sametime will reliablyprovide a drive of suflicient force which will notslip.

Another object of the presentinvention is to provide a fricional driveto a spindle of the above type of sufiicient force to reliably drive thespindle irrespective of the direction in which the latter is rotated.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a drive of theabove type which maybe adjusted so as to change the direction ofrotationof the spindle.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide a drive ofthe above type which is composed of transmission members whichfrictionally engage each other and which at the same time reliablytransmits the necessary driving force.

Also it is an object of the present invention to provide a hightransmission ratio in a drive in an extremely small space.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a drive ofthe above type which combines a friction drive with a gear drive.

The objects of the present invention also include the provision of astructure capable of accomplishing all of the above objects and at thesame time composed of simple and ruggedly constructed elements which arevery reliable in operation.

With the above objects in view the present invention mainly consists ofa drive for a spindle of a spinning and twisting machine, this driveincluding a driven member and a driving member respectively having axesof rotation which extend in different directions, the driving memberhaving an annular driving surface which is located in a plane normal tothe axis of rotation of the drive means and the driven means having anannular driven surface which is coaxial with the axis of rotation of thedriven means. The drive means and the driven means are supported forrotation about their axes by a 2,896,395 Patented July 28,- 1959 supportmeans, andan annular transmission means whose axis of rotation issubstantially perpendicular to that of the drive means islocatedbetwee'n andengages the annular driving surface and the annulardriven surface for transmitting a drive from the drivemeans to thedriven means. A carrier means is carried bythe support means and carriesthe transmission means forfree' rotation about its axis of rotation, anda spindle means is fixed coaxially to the driven means 'to'bedriventhereby.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for theinvention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. Theinvention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method'of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof,will be best understood from the followingdescription of specificembodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary partly sectional elevational view of anapparatusconstructed'in accordance with thepresent invention, Fig. 1being partly sectioned along line 1-1 in the direction of the arrows of'Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a top plan viewofthe structure of Fig. 1 with the cover plateof Fig. 1 removed to clearly illustrate the structure therebeneath;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary partly sectional elevational view of a differentembodimentof a structure according to the present invention, Fig. 3being partly sectioned along line 3--3 of Fig. 4 in the direction of thearrows;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary top .plan view of the structure of Fig. 3 withthe cover plate removed from the latter to clearly show the elementstherebeneath; i

Fig. 5 is a fragmentaryelevational view of the structure of Fig. 4 asseen .inthe direction of arrow A of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary elevational view similar to Fig. 5 and showing amodification of the structure shown in Fig. 5; and Fig. 7 is afragmentary elevational View showing a further modification.

Referring now to the drawings and to Figs. 1 and 2 in particular, itwill be seen that a casing 10 is provided with an integral carryingflange 101. T his. carrying flange carries a spindle housing 11 whichextends through an apperture in the flange 101 and which has a flange110 engaging the top face of the flange 101 and a nut 12 threadedlyengaging the housing '11 and the underside of the flange 101 to fix thehousing 11 to the flange 101. The spindle housing 11 carries in a k-nowway a spindle hearing which turnably supports the spindle whose top end13 is shown in Fig. 1, this top end 13 being adapted to carry a spool. Adriven means provided with an outer annular surface 14 is fixed directlyto the spindle for driving the latter, this driven means being in theform, for example, of a pulley which is fixed to the spindle forrotation therewith. The top portion of the pulley is provided with anoutwardly extending annular flange 141 which covers an opening 151 inthe cover 15. In order to prevent the spindle from being pulledywhen thespool is dotfed, a book 16 extends over the flange 141. How ever, inorder to be able to pull out the spindle when desired, the hook 16 ismovable upwardly, and in the example shown the hook 16 is formed with abore through which extends a screw fixed to the cover 15, and aresilient rubber sleeve 17 or the like is located between the head ofthe screw 18 and the hook 16 to urge the latter downwardly to theposition shown in Fig. 1.

A drive means is provided for driving the spindle, and in theillustrated example this drive means is in the form of a drive shaft 19turnably supported for rotation about its axis by suitable bearings ofthe support means 10. As is illustrated in the drawings, collars arefixed to the shaft 19 to prevent axially shifting thereof while allowingthe shaft 19 to rotate freely about its own axis. The drive meansincludes in addition to the shaft 19 a disc 20 I lars.

v.3 which is fixed to the shaft 19 for rotation therewith, and this disc2% is provided at its left face, as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2, with anannular driving surface which is located in a plane normal to the axisof rotation of the drive means. It will be noted that the driven meansis proof an annular member 21 which has an axis of rotationsubstantially perpendicular to that of the drive means 19,

20. This annular member 21 is provided with an outer coating 22 whichhas a high coefficient of friction, this outer coating 22 engaging theannular driving surface of the disc 20 and the annular driven surface14. A car rier means is provided to carry the transmission means 21, 22for free turning movement about its axis of rotation, and this, carriermeans takes the form of a spring leaf 23 which is fixed to the supportmeans by an angle member 24 and which is fixed to another angle member25 which carries the pin which extends through the central bore of theannular member 21 to support the latter for rotation about its axis. Itwill be noted that the leaf spring 23 extends angularly up from thebottom wall of the casing 10 between the drive means and driven means,and furthermore the leaf spring 23 by its own resiliency urges thetransmission means 21, 22 into engagement both with the drive means andthe driven means.

As is apparent from Fig. 2, the diameter of the transmission means 21,22 is larger than the smallest distance between the annular drivensurface 14 and the annular driving surface at the left face of the disc20, as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2, so that the transmission means cannotpass through the space between the drive means and driven means and istherefore pressed by the spring 23 to engagement with the drive meansand driven means for reliably transmitting a drive from the drive meansto the driven means. Furthermore, a spring 26 may be connected to anextension fixed to the flange 101 and to the leaf spring 23 to increasethe force with which the latter urges the transmission means intoengagement with I the drive means and the driven means.

It will be noted from Figs. 1 and 2 that if the shaft 19 and disc 20turn in one direction of rotation they will tend to urge thetransmission means 21, 22 into greater engagement with the drive meansand the driven means, while if the shaft 19 and disc 20 turn in theopposite direction they will tend to move the transmission means out ofdriving engagement with the drive means and the driven means. However,the force of the spring 23 and the spring 26 is great enough to reliablyhold the trans- -mission means in driving engagement with the drivemeans and the driven means even if the drive means rotates in adirection which tends to detract from the driving engagement between thetransmission means and the drive means and driven means. The shaft 19 isdriven by any suitable motor which is not illustrated.

The entire shaft-19 may be shifted simply by disconnecting the collars19a, 19b shown in Fig. 1 from the shaft 19 and shifting the latter withrespect to these col- This disconnection may be effective simply bydriving out the pins which fix these collars to the shaft 19, or insteadof pins through the holes set screws may be unscrewed in order torelease the fixed connection between the collars 19a, 19b and the shaft19.

Figs. 3-5 show a second embodiment of the structure according to thepresent invention, the structure of this embodiment being identical withthat described above 4. except for the construction of the transmissionmeans, the carrier means which carrie the transmission means, and themeans for increasing the force with which the carrier means urges thetransmission means into engagement with the drive means and the drivenmeans. Thus, referring to Figs. 3-5, it will be seen that thetransmissions means, instead of including a single annular memberprovided with a peripheral coating of a high coefficient of friction, isin the form of a pair of annular members provided with a pair ofperipheral coatings of a high coeflicient of friction 28, 29. As isapparent from Figs. 3 and 5 in particular, this transmission means 27 iscomposed of a pair of annular members of different diameters whichrespectively carry the peripheral coatings 28, 29. The transmissionmember of larger diameter engages the driven annular surface 14, whilethe annular member of smaller diameter frictionally engages the annulardriving surface of the disc 20. This transmis sion means 27 also has itsaxis of rotation substantially perpendicular to the axis of rotation ofthe shaft19.

The carrier means of Figs. 3-5 also is in the form of a leaf spring, butthe leaf spring 30 of the carrier means of Figs. 3-5 is located on theside of shaft 19 which is opposite from the side on which the leafspring 23 of the embodiment of Figs. 1 and 2 is located. There is moreroom for the leaf spring 30 at the place where it is shown in Figs. 3and 4, so that with this embodiment of the invention the parts may bemuch more compactly arranged and will require an even smaller space. Theleaf spring 30 is fixed to the support 10 by an angle member and isprovided with an angle member which turnably supports the transmissionmeans 27, in the same way as with the embodiment of Figs. 1 and 2.

Instead of a spring for increasing the force with which the leaf springurges the transmission means into engagement with the drive means andthe driven means, with the embodiments of Figs. 3 and 4 a Weight 31 ispro vided for increasing this force. The weight 31 is schematicallyshown in Figs. 3 and 4 as carried by an arm 32 which is freely turnablein a suitable bearing carried by the support means 10, so that thisweight 31 bears down on a portion of the leaf spring 30. However, theillustration of the weight means of Figs. 3 and 4 is only diagrammatic.Actually a group of Weights may be provided and may engage the leafspring 30 at any desired location in order to increase the force withwhich the transmission means 27 is urged into driving engagement withthe drive means and the driven means.

It will be noted that with the structure illustrated in Figs. 3-5 thereis pure frictional transmission of the drive, and also it will be notedthat the transmission ratio is much higher than with the embodiment ofthe Figs. 1 and 2 even though the space in which the transmission islocated is smaller. The reason for this is that the two steps of thetransmission provide the higher transmission ratio without requiringmore space.

It may be desirable to alter the embodiment of Figs. 3 and 4 so that itcombines a friction drive with a gear drive, and in order to accomplishthis, the smaller annular member of the transmission means 27 may beformed as a gear and the portion of the disc 20 which engages thissmaller transmission member may be provided with teeth to mesh with sucha gear. Such a construction is shown in Fig. 7 in which the smallerannular member 29' of the transmission means 2 is formed with gear teethwhich mesh with teeth provided at the rim of the disc 20. If desired,however, the annular driven surface 14 may be formed as a gear and inthis case the larger annular transmission member would also be formed asa gear to mesh therewith. Such a modification is illustrated in Fig. 6,which shows a driven surface 14 in form of gear, the teeth of which meshwith the gear teeth provided on the larger annular trans mission member28 of the transmission means 27'.

Where the spindle is required to cooperate with a traveler and a ring,it is necessary that the spindle and ring be coaxial. This coaxialarrangement can be provided if the spindle housing 11 is arranged sothat it passes through a bore of the flange 101 which is concentric withthe ring, and the spindle housing may have a snug fit in such a bore, oreither the bow or the spindle housing may be made slightly conical so asto provide a Wedge fit. However, if such an arrangement is not possible,then each individual spindle must be centered. With the support meansshown in the drawings, this is possible, because, as is shown in Figs. 1and 2, the bottom wall of the support means 10 is formed with an opening102 through which a tool may be inserted to loosen the nut 12 in orderto shift the spindle assembly for centering purposes. The spindleassembly is shifted with respect to the flange 101, and actually the nut12 is only loosened sufficiently to enable the spindle assembly to beshifted by applying the force of hammer blows to the flange 1-10 of thehousing 11. In order to enable such blows to be provided, the casing 10is also provided with an opening 103. Thus, with the casing shown in thedrawings it is possible to center the spindle assembly when necessary.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together, may also find a useful application in other types ofdrives differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in adrive for spindles of spinning and twisting machines, it is not intendedto be limited to the details shown, since various modifications andstructural changes may be made without departing in any way from thespirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofthe present invention that others can by applying current knowledgereadily adapt it for vari- 'ous applications without omitting featuresthat, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essentialcharacteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this inventionand, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to becomprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent:

1. In a drive for a spindle of a spinning and twisting machine, incombination, support means; drive means and driven means havingrespectively fixed axes of rotation which extend in difierent directionsand being supported for rotation about said fixed axes, respectively, bysaid support means, said drive means having an annular driving surfacelocated in a plane normal to said axis of rotation of said drive meansand said driven means having an annular driven surface coaxial with saidaxis of rotation of said driven means; annular transmission means havingan axis of rotation substantially perpendicular to said axis of rotationof said drive means and having an outer surface engaging said annulardriving surface and said annular driven surface; carrier means carriedby said support means and car rying said transmission means for freerotation about its axis of rotation, said carrier means being in form ofa leaf spring extending substantially parallel to the axis of rotationof said transmission means in the space between said drive means andsaid driven means and supporting said transmission means for movement ina direction substantially perpendicular to a straight line extendingbetween the point of contact between said transmission means and annulardriving surface and the point of contact between said transmission meansand said annular driven surface; and spindle means fixed coaxially tosaid driven means to be driven thereby.

2. In a drive for a spindle of a spinning and twisting machine, incombination, support means; drive means and driven means havingrespectively fixed axes of rotation which extend in different directionsand being 6 supported for rotation about said fixed axes, respectively,by said support means, said drive means having an annular drivingsurface located in a plane normal to said axis of rotation of said drivemeans and said driven means having an annular driven surface coaxialwith said axis of rotation of said driven means; annular transmissionmeans having an axis of rotation substantially perpendicular to saidaxis of rotation of said drive means and having an outer surfaceengaging said annular driving surface and said annular driven surface;carrier means carried by said support means and carrying saidtransmission means for free rotation about its axis of rotation; saidcarrier means comprising a leaf spring fixed at one end thereof to saidsupport means and extending therefrom substantially parallel to the axisof said transmission means in the space between said drive means andsaid driven means, and an angle member fixed to the free end of saidleaf spring and carrying said transmission means said carrier meansurging said transmission means into engagement with said driving meansand said driven means; and spindle means fixed coaxially to said drivenmeans to be driven thereby.

3. In a drive for a spindle of a spinning and twisting machine, incombination, support means; drive means and driven means havingrespectively axes of rotation which extend in different directions andbeing supported for rotation about said axes, respectively, by saidsupport means, said drive means having an annular driving surfacelocated in a plane normal to said axis of rotation of said drive meansand said driven means having an annular driven surface coaxial with saidaxis of rotation of said driven means; annular transmission means havingan axis of rotation substantially perpendicular to said axis. ofrotation of said drive means and having an outer surface engaging saidannular driving surface and said annular driven surface; carrier meanscarried by said support means and carrying said trans mission means forfree rotation about its axis of rotation, said carrier means being inthe form of a leaf spring carrying said transmission means and urgingsame into engagement with said driving means and said driven means;means engaging said leaf spring for automatically increasing the forcewith which the latter urges the transmission means into engagement withsaid driving means and said driven means whenever said leaf spring isdeflected in a direction tending to move said transmission means out ofengagement with said driving means and said driven means; and spindlemeans fixed coaxially to said driven means to be driven thereby.

4. In a drive for a spindle of a spinning and twisting machine, incombination, support means; drive means and driven means havingrespectively axes of rotation which extend in dilferent directions andbeing supported for rotation about said axes, respectively, by saidsupport means, said drive means having an annular driving surfacelocated in a plane normal to said axis of rotation of said drive meansand said driven means having an annular driven surface coaxial with saidaxis of rotation of said driven means; annular transmission means havingan axis of rotation substantially perpendicular to said axis of rotationof said drive means and having an outer surface portion engaging saidannular driving surface and said annular driven surface; carrier meanscarried by said support means and carrying said transmission means forfree rotation about its axis of rotation, said carrier means being inthe form of a leaf spring carrying said transmission means and urgingsame into engagement with said driving means and said driven means;spring means operatively connected to said leaf spring for increasingthe force with which the latter urges said transmission means intoengagement with said driving means and said driven means; and spindlemeans fixed coaxially to said driven means to be driven thereby.

5. In a drive for a spindle of a spinning and twisting machine, incombination, support means; drive means and driven means havingrespectively axes of rotation which extend in different directions andbeing supported for rotation about said axes, respectively, by saidsupport'means, said drive means having an annular driving surfacelocated in a plane normal to said axis of rotation of said drive meansand said driven means having an annular driven surface coaxial with saidaxis of notation of said driven means; annular transmission means havingan axis of rotation substantially perpendioular to said axis of rotationof said drive means and having an outer surface portion engaging saidannular driving surface and said annular driven surface; carrier meanscarried by said support means and carrying said transmission means forfree rotation about its axis of rotation, said carrier means being inthe form of a leaf spring carrying said transmission means and urgingsame into engagement with said driving means and said driven means;weight means engaging said leaf spring for increasing the force withwhich the latter urges said transmission means into engagement with saiddriving means and said driven means; and spindle means fixed coaxiallyto said driven means to be driven thereby.

6. In a drive for a spindle of a spinning and twisting machine, incombination, support means; drive means and driven means respectivelyhaving fixed axes of rotation which extend indifferent directions andbeing supported by said support means for rotation about said fixed axesof rotation, respectively, said drive means having an annular drivingsurface located in a plane normal to thetaxis of rotation of said drivemeans and said driven means having an annular driven surface coaxialwith said axis of rotation of said driven means; transmission meanshaving an axis of rotation substantially perpendicular to that of saiddrive means located between and engaging said annular driving surfaceand said annular driven surface, said transmission means being composedof a pair of annular transmission members of different diameters one ofwhich engages said annular driving surface and the other of whichengages said annular driven surface; resilient carrier means in form ofa leaf spring extending substantially parallel to the axis of rotationof said transmission means in i the space between said drive means andsaid driven means and carrying said transmission means for free rotationabout its axis of rotation and for urging said transmission means inengagement with said drive means and said driven means; and spindlemeans fixed coaxially to said driven means to be driventhereby.

7 In a drive fora spindle of aspinning and twisting machine, incombination, drive means and driven means respectively having difierentand fixed axes of rotation and carried by said support means forrotation about said fixed axes of rotation, respectively, said drivemeans having an annular driving surface located in a plane normal tosaid axis of rotation of said drive means and said driven means havingan annular driven surface coaxial With said axis of rotation of saiddriven means, one of said annular surfaces being toothed; transmission'means having an axis of rotation substantially perpendicular to that ofsaid drive means engaging said annular surfaces for transmitting a drivefrom said drive means to said driven means, said transmission meansbeing composed of a pair of annular members of different diametersrespectively engaging said annular surfaces, the annular member engagingsaid toothed annular surface being also toothed and meshing therewithment with said drive means and said driven means; and spindle meansfixed coaxially to said driven means to be driven thereby.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS501,666 Schrepfer July 18, 1893 1,289,818 Kurkjian Dec. 31, 19181,436,268 Leslie Nov. 21, 1922 1,806,984 Prout May 26, 1931 FOREIGNPATENTS 3,163 Great Britain of 1864

